Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/1/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS / IRAQ FUNDING (L)

NUMBER=2-308132

BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S Senate has opened formal debate on President Bush's 87 billion dollar funding request for Iraq and Afghanistan. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

TEXT: The Senate has begun what the chamber's top Democrat, Senator Tom Daschle, described as "one of the most consequential debates involving national security in a generation," affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of U-S troops and calling on taxpayers to shoulder the burden of rebuilding another country.

Some 66 billion dollars of the package for U-S troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has strong congressional support, but the rest, 20-point-three billion dollars for the rebuilding of Iraq, is more controversial.

Senators defeated a Democratic amendment that would have separated the reconstruction funds from the money for the troops.

Senator Ted Stevens(R) of Alaska, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said support for U-S forces is directly linked to support for the reconstruction effort

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We are in a situation where the quicker the Iraqi people can get control of their own affairs or even greater control of their own affairs, the better off we will be and the sooner we can bring our forces home.

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Democrats are seeking guarantees that the reconstructions funds will be used effectively. They say President Bush has not been forthcoming about the costs of the U-S-led occupation.

Senator Joe Biden of Delaware is the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee:

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The reason why there is such consternation in the Congress and in the country at the moment is not about the 87 billion dollars, notwithstanding that is an enormous amount. It is that we have lost faith in the President. It is that we have lost our confidence in his ability to prosecute the peace.

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Democrats and a growing number of Republicans, concerned about the widening U-S budget deficit, are calling for future Iraqi oil revenues to be used to reimburse American taxpayers for the cost of rebuilding Iraq.

/// OPT /// But Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, opposes the idea:

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Seeking control, either directly or indirectly, over Iraq's future oil revenue, would condemn Iraq to be another ward of the international community by denying the Iraqi people the key to their future prosperity.

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Critics of loaning the reconstruction money say the United States should not be adding to the Iraq's debt burden.

/// OPT /// U-S officials estimate Iraq owes as much as 200 billion dollars to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and France. /// END OPT ///

But supporters of the loan idea say the United States should not be getting itself further into debt just to help Iraq get out of debt.

/// OPT /// Senator Byron Dorgan is a North Dakota Democrat:

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The American taxpayer would bear the burden of that 21 billion dollar expenditure. Then Iraq would pump its oil, sell it on the open market, and use its resources then from selling its oil to ship cash to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Russia, France and Germany. I just do not understand how anyone thinks that is in our interest.

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The House is to take up the funding package next week. Both chambers are expected to vote on it by mid-October. (SIGNED)

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